Immigration drives US population growth to highest rate in 23 years as residents pass 340 million

Immigration in 2024 drove U.S. population growth to its fastest rate in 23 years as the nation surpassed 340 million residents. The U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday that the 1% growth rate this year was the highest it has been since 2001, and it was a marked contrast to the record low of 0.2% set in 2021 at the height of pandemic restrictions on travel to the United States. Immigration this year increased by 2.8 million people, partly because of a new method of counting that adds people who were admitted for humanitarian reasons.